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Monday, May 4, 2015

Review: Rules of Protection (Tangled in Texas #1) by Alison Bliss

It’s rule breaker Emily
Foster's birthday, and like everyone at The Jungle Room, she just wants
to get some action. Unfortunately, she stumbles on the wrong kind,
witnessing a mob hit. To protect her, she's entered into the Witness
Protection Program with by-the-book Special Agent Jake Ward as her
chaperone.

When the location of their safe house is compromised,
Jake stashes Emily deep in the Texas backwoods. The city-girl might be
safe from the Mafia, but she has to contend with a psychotic rooster, a
narcoleptic dog, crazy cowboys, and the danger of losing her heart to
the one man she can’t have.

Jake's as hot as he is infuriating,
and she can't help but push all his buttons to loosen him up. Their
mutual, sizzling sexual attraction poses a dilemma: Jake's determined to
keep her safe and out of the wrong hands; she's determined to get into
the right ones—his.

Emily decided to hit the bar with her
two best friends for her birthday. She was hoping for a few drinks, some
laughs and at her friends urging ... maybe a handsome guy to spend the
rest of her birthday with. That's not exactly how her night panned out
... instead of the fun time she was hoping for, she was stalked through
the bar by a skeezy guy and she peeked in on a mob hit. The moment she
saw someone get killed, her life changed forever ... it turned into a life full of
conflicting emotions, almost-sexy-times and some backwoods country
people that she has absolutely nothing in common with.

I
almost never read someone else's review of a book before I read it
myself. I don't know why that is ... there's nothing wrong with reading
reviews, that is how a lot of people figure out what to pick up next.
But that just isn't the way I do things. I've had my eye on this book
since it hit shelves back in August of last year but I never had the
opportunity to pick it up. Finally the day arrived that I would be able to read it and for some odd
reason, I read some reviews before I even turned a page. And of course, I
gravitated towards the bad reviews to see what people were saying about
Rules of Protection. I read some really horrible stuff and I am so glad
that I didn't let those harsh words deter me from starting this because
it was absolutely amazing! I haven't enjoyed a romantic suspense novel
like this in such a long time. I read Sandra Brown almost religiously
and let me tell you, this is no exaggeration ... Alison Bliss is a young
Sandra Brown. Before I embarrass myself and start waxing poetic about
both of these very talented ladies, let's get down to the review.

You're
thrown into this novel as Emily is walking into the bar and you're able
to get to know her as she handles different situations and the people
around her. I like it that way. I don't very much enjoy a book
starting off with these stale paragraphs that describe a character in
great detail before you even get to anything pertaining to the story.
The way that Bliss did it, it was perfection. I was able to form my own
opinions on Emily and her friends rather than being told what I SHOULD
think of them. And I think that makes a difference when setting a book
up because every reader interprets things a different way. Let me elaborate on
that a little bit ... some reviewers are saying that the Emily character
ruined the book for them because she was so incredibly emotional. I
didn't see it that way. I took it as Emily was reacting to a harrowing
situation and her emotions got the best of her. Which I'm assuming is
pretty easy to do when the character has no filter and is so sassy that
you just know she has a steel pair that would rival the manliest of men. Personally, I liked her emotional reaction because I think that it was realistic. I can't imagine how I would react in a situation like that but I'm betting people would think that I was off my rocker as well. Anyhow ... I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Emily and while sometimes she may have been bit over the top, she was completely true to herself and you can't help but love honest characters.

The rest of the story ... man ... what a whirlwind!! Rules of Protection doesn't keep you on the edge of your seat, it completely demolishes the seat and makes you run around like a demented rooster is after you. There is twist after twist in this plot; I never knew what was going to happen next and I was constantly surprised. It's really hard to shock me these days because of how many romantic suspense novels I've read but I was pleasantly surprised at every single turn of the page. I read this one pretty quickly and I have so, SO much more to say but I don't want to ruin any of the surprises!

Alison Bliss is an author to watch out for and if you haven't read this book yet, you need to go ahead and grab it. I will be anxiously awaiting the next novel in the series which I'm hoping is coming out soon ... right? RIGHT?!? (Hint, hint Alison Bliss)